Evidence-Based Dermatology
Chapter One
The field and its boundaries
Luigi Naldi
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) represents the best way of
linking and integrating clinical research with clinical practice.
The results of clinical research should inform clinical
practice. Ideally, whenever there is no satisfactory answer
for a clinical question, it should be addressed by clinical
research. Since clinical questions are innumerable and
resources are limited, the process needs some control, and
priorities should be set using explicit and verifiable criteria.
The public and purchasers have to be involved at this stage,
and health needs and expectations in any given clinical
area should be analyzed and taken into account. In many
instances, confirmatory studies are needed, and systematic
reviews can be used to summarize study results or to
explore results in specific subgroups with a view to further
research. The results of clinical research should be applied
back to the individual patients in the light of their personal ... read full excerpt from Evidence-Based Dermatology ebook
